Hey there,
I posted on Instagram about Neo Suzuki becoming the 5th athlete ever to win a Lead World Cup despite topping qualification. Someone asked in the comments how often debut climbers win.
Here is the answer.
Debut Winners
Yicheng Zhao just became the 12th athlete ever to win a World Cup on his debut in Wujiang this month. The first two were Jerry Moffatt and Robyn Erbesfield, who won at the first-ever World Cup in Leeds in 1989. Since then only 10 more athletes have managed it.
François Legrand may have won on his debut in Madonna di Campiglio in 1990. The 1990 season opened in Vienna earlier that year, but I haven't been able to confirm whether Legrand competed there. If he didn't, Madonna di Campiglio was his debut — and the start of a run that saw him win the World Cup Series in 1990–1993 and again in 1997. He is 3rd on the all-time list of Men's Lead World Cup winners with 17 gold medals.
We then had to wait until the introduction of speed to see more debut athletes winning World Cups. Renata Piszczek won the first women's event and Vladimir Netsvetaev-Dolgalev the first men's event in Frankfurt, Germany, in 1993.
Chris Sharma arrived on the scene in 1997 to win his first Lead World Cup on his World Cup debut. He had competed at the 1997 World Championship in Paris and some of the UIAA Master events earlier in the year, but his first official World Cup was in Kranj, Slovenia.
We then saw multiple speed debuts winning up to Yicheng Zhao this year. Alexei Gadeev in 1999, Maksym Styenkovyy in 2000, Dmitrii Timofeev in 2012. The most recent previous debut winner was Jianguo Long, who Yicheng Zhao beat in the final in Wujiang.
The only Boulder World Cup debut winner was Alex Johnson at the first-ever World Cup held in Vail, in 2008. She would go on to win again in Greifensee, Switzerland, in 2010 and win silver medals in Vail in 2009 and Sheffield in 2010.
Full list of debut winners and where they won
| Athlete | Country | Discipline | Season | Location | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jerry Moffatt | GBR | Lead | 1989 | Leeds, UK | 1989-05-20 |
| Robyn Erbesfield | USA | Lead | 1989 | Leeds, UK | 1989-05-20 |
| François Legrand | FRA | Lead | 1990 | Madonna di Campiglio, Italy (unverified) | 1990-07-27 |
| Vladimir Netsvetaev-Dolgalev | RUS | Speed | 1993 | Frankfurt, Germany | 1993-04-01 |
| Renata Piszczek | POL | Speed | 1993 | Frankfurt, Germany | 1993-04-01 |
| Chris Sharma | USA | Lead | 1997 | Kranj, Slovenia | 1997-11-08 |
| Alexei Gadeev | RUS | Speed | 1999 | Beauregard, Italy | 1999-07-23 |
| Maksym Styenkovyy | UKR | Speed | 2000 | Nantes, France | 2000-11-01 |
| Alex Johnson | USA | Boulder | 2008 | Vail, USA | 2008-06-06 |
| Dmitrii Timofeev | RUS | Speed | 2012 | Chongqing, China | 2012-04-13 |
| Jianguo Long | CHN | Speed | 2022 | Villars-sur-Ollon, Switzerland | 2022-06-30 |
| Yicheng Zhao | CHN | Speed | 2026 | Wujiang, China | 2026-05-08 |
Winners in their debut season?
Although Chaehyun Seo did not win in her first World Cup ever, she did win World Cups in her debut World Cup season.
If we define the debut World Cup season as the first season an athlete competed in any World Cups in a year, then the list grows to 35. Some of these are inflated by the first year of winners in 1989 with 9 winners.
Just like for the debut athletes, speed has the most winners in their debut season after the initial rush for Lead athletes in 1989-91.
Other famous winners included Adam Ondra in Lead in 2009 and Johanna Ernst in Lead in 2008. David Lama won both Boulder and Lead World Cups in his debut season in 2006. Sorato Anraku joined him in 2023 by winning both Boulder and Lead World Cups.
Full list of world cup winners in their debut season
| Athlete | Country | Debut season | Discipline won |
|---|---|---|---|
| Robyn Erbesfield | USA | 1989 | Lead |
| Jerry Moffatt | GBR | 1989 | Lead |
| Isabelle Patissier | FRA | 1989 | Lead |
| Simon Nadin | GBR | 1989 | Lead |
| Nanette Raybaud | FRA | 1989 | Lead |
| Didier Raboutou | FRA | 1989 | Lead |
| Carlos Brasco | ESP | 1989 | Lead |
| Luisa Iovanne | ITA | 1989 | Lead |
| Lynn Hill | USA | 1989 | Lead |
| François Legrand | FRA | 1990 | Lead |
| Jackie Godoffe | FRA | 1990 | Lead |
| François Lombard | FRA | 1991 | Lead |
| Salavat Rakhmetov | RUS | 1991 | Lead |
| Susi Good | SUI | 1991 | Lead |
| Yuji Hirayama | JPN | 1991 | Lead |
| Renata Piszczek | POL | 1993 | Speed |
| Vladimir Netsvetaev-Dolgalev | RUS | 1993 | Speed |
| Yevgen Krivosheytsev | UKR | 1993 | Speed |
| Chris Sharma | USA | 1997 | Lead |
| Alexei Gadeev | RUS | 1999 | Speed |
| Maksym Styenkovyy | UKR | 2000 | Speed |
| Sergei Sinitcyn | RUS | 2002 | Speed |
| David Lama | AUT | 2006 | Lead & Boulder |
| Rosmery Da Silva | VEN | 2007 | Speed |
| Alex Johnson | USA | 2008 | Boulder |
| Johanna Ernst | AUT | 2008 | Lead |
| Adam Ondra | CZE | 2009 | Lead |
| Dmitrii Timofeev | RUS | 2012 | Speed |
| Reza Alipour Shenazandifard | IRI | 2013 | Speed |
| Chaehyun Seo | KOR | 2019 | Lead |
| Jianguo Long | CHN | 2022 | Speed |
| Sam Watson | USA | 2022 | Speed |
| Sorato Anraku | JPN | 2023 | Lead & Boulder |
| Shixue Meng | CHN | 2025 | Speed |
| Yicheng Zhao | CHN | 2026 | Speed |
Most athletes who went on to do great things in competition didn't win in their debut World Cup season, never mind their debut World Cup.
One athlete who didn't win in her first year was Janja Garnbret. She took part in three World Cups in her debut year in 2015, finishing second twice and third at the final World Cup of the year in Kranj, Slovenia. It wasn't until Chamonix in 2016, her fourth World Cup, that she won — going on to win again in Villars and Briançon that year, and regularly ever since.
Winning a World Cup in your debut season puts you in the top 0.5% of every athlete who has ever competed. But it's no guarantee of greatness — and plenty of greats didn't manage it.
News
- The first Para Series event of the year drew 42 new athletes, a sign of how fast the sport is growing ahead of LA28. The event saw the return of Maureen Beck (AU2) and Abbie Robinson (B2) who both won. Sho Aita (B1), Aloïs Pottier (RP1), Melissa Luis (RP1), and Lucie Jarrige (AL2) all continued their winning streaks as they prepare for the LA28 Paralympic qualification pathway, which begins next year.
- Next weekend we go to Bern for a Boulder World Cup starting on Friday. This is the second Boulder World Cup at the BERNEXPO Festhalle and Bern's fourth World Cup overall — following a Lead World Cup in 2007 and Boulder World Cups in 2008 and 2025.
- Janja Garnbret has registered for Lead for the Prague World Cup in early June. My sources suggest she is unlikely to actually compete.
From Elsewhere
- A small research team based at the University of Bucharest is doing a global study on burnout in climbers. The main researcher has posted about it on Instagram to share the goals of the study. The study was initiated by competition climbers, but has since expanded to include recreational and outdoor climbers as well. You can fill out the questionnaire (which takes 20-25 minutes) here.
- Jonathan Sin and Emil Abrahamsson reacted to the first Boulder World Cup of the season. Jonathan is planning to put out a video for each remaining Boulder World Cup of the season.
- After 20 athletes went under 5 seconds at the Wujiang Speed World Cup, this old video from 2019 by Wired featuring Alex Honnold on why climbing the speed route in under 5 seconds is almost impossible isn't aging well. Sub 4.5 won't be far away.
Ticket Updates
Nothing new this week — reminders below.
- You can still buy tickets for the World Cup in Bern next week.
- The European Boulder Championship in Barcelona in July will be free to attend, but you will need to register for a free ticket like for the Madrid World Cup. Registration is not yet open.
